HEIDELBERG- -A SCHLÄGER FECHT. 105 figuring themselves for life seems absurd to us. They say that if we, the English, do not have a fight occasionally, we must go and sulk it out, which is much worse; but these men get up a duel on the slightest provocation. Yet for all this, there are many men who go through their course of lectures in a quiet and reasonable manner. It is only 'the old ones,' 'the princes of twilight,' who indulge in these quaint and curious pastimes. about to start presented us with a quantity of tobacco in the leaf, the product of his own garden, and also a bottle of wine from his own vineyard. He brought out his cornet and made the hills re-echo the martial tunes 'Die alte Krieger,' and 'Was blasen die Trompeten,' and we left Heidelberg not without many regrets on all hands, and floated down the Neckar till the sounds of the cornet died in the distance. It did not take us long to reach Mannheim again, though we were obliged to be careful as to our course, for the river abounds in rocks, the sight of which alarmed our English acquaintance (who took a cruise with us in the rain yesterday, and had agreed to accompany us to-day as far as Mannheim), for he had surreptitiously taken off his shoes, and coat also, that he might be prepared to swim in case of a capsize, of which, however, there was not much danger. The Doctor and our friend were equally astonished, while talking on English matters, to find that they had known each other in London some two years ago; but the alteration of their visages (both having discarded the use of the razor) was so great that they had not hitherto recognised one another. We parted at Mannheim, and, once more floating down the Rhine, for it was very hot weather, we soon sighted Worms; but not being at all desirous of stopping here, we pulled on to Gernsheim, near which place we took up our quarters for the night at a small house by the river side. After supper we retired to our bedroom, but not to rest, for the mosquitoes, which had, even during supper time, attacked the Doctor, really swarmed in the sleeping apartment. We 'laid us down and closed our eyes,' but all our attempts to sleep were quite hopeless, so we got up and put on our clothes again, and in order to cover every part of the body we were obliged to use our socks, which had to be pulled out of the knapsacks, for we had long ago given up wearing them; in fact, the greater part of the day it was our custom, generally, to go without shoes either. But the worrying little insects penetrated even these. We tried all sorts of ways to avoid these horrible little things, for the irritation arising from the punctures they make in the flesh was almost intolerable. Getting out of bed again, we put on our mackintoshes, and, walking up and down the apartment, endeavoured to disperse them by creating a dense cloud of tobacco smoke; but they seemed delighted at this, and we had to keep our temper as well as we were able, smoking our pipes to the music of their everlasting bizz. At length the Doctor, having muffled himself in jerseys, shirts, and anything he could |